Arab-Israeli Drug Ring Busted for Aiding Hezbollah

Drug dealers from northern Israel built ties with Hezbollah terrorists, who tried to use the Israelis to smuggle drugs and weapons.

By Yaakov Levi

First Publish: 8/28/2014, 11:27 AM

Hezbollah parade in Lebanon (file)

Reuters

Israel Police and the Shabak (Israel Security Service) announced Thursday that it had arrested several Arab-Israelis who are accused of aiding and abetting Hezbollah terrorists. The investigation into the detainees went on for several months, and they were arrested on July 27, the announcement said.

The investigation was originally designed to uncover the massive drug pushing that the suspects were involved in. The Israeli drug dealers had close relations with drug dealers in Lebanon, and acquire much of their stock from that country. The drug business in Lebanon is controlled by Hezbollah, and the terror group has attempted to recruit Arab Israel drug dealers to carry out terror attacks in Israel.

Among the detainees are members of several well-known crime families in the villages of Nahaf, Beit Zarzir, Zariv, and other Galilee Arab villages.

The detainees revealed to Israeli investigators their relationship with Lebanese drug king George Nimar, a resident of Marjayoun in south Lebanon. The Israelis had extensive dealings with him, and developed a private communications system to ensure that they would be able to smuggle goods supplied by him behind the backs of Israeli security personnel.

Nimar attempted to supply the drug dealers not only with narcotics, but with weapons, for use in terror attacks in Israel. Patrols were organized on both sides of the border to find secure locations where the weapons could be passed into Israel undetected. In some cases, drugs and weapons were brought into Israel via Jordan, which has several open border crossings with Israel.

The Shabak said that the detainees supplied information that presented a more complete picture of how Hezbollah utilized the drug business, both as a vehicle for income and as a way to infiltrate into Israel. “The investigation unveils a wide network of Israeli drug dealers who worked together with Lebanese drug dealers connected to Hezbollah to smuggle both drugs and weapons into Israel from Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan,” the Shabak added.